Mother
by Sakura's Pointe Shoes
Summary: Ruth is asked to babysit Wes while Adam is recovering in the hospital, she runs into some problems and asks for Harry's help. RH S4 spoilers!
1. Chapter 1

Title: Mother

Genre: Drama/Humor

Rating:

A/N: Set presumably in the aftermath of 410, so 501? Definitely spoilers. Ruth discovers her maternal feelings.

DISCLAIMER: Don't own it, never will.

Mother:

You may have thought Ruth could do anything. She could hack into the most heavily guarded institutions in the country, she could fabricate convincing lies to save countless lives, hell, she even had the nerve to steal office equipment without clearing it with Harry!

But she could not sit and watch a friend's child for more than 30 minutes. Babysitting was never one of her favorite things to do. Yet, as she watched the small child in front of her, staring back at her with adorable brown eyes (a spitting image of his father) she considered the fact that maybe the night wouldn't be so terrible after all.

They had all taken turns volunteering to watch Wes while Adam was recovering in the hospital. Ruth had signed up last, being the one who was probably least experienced with kids. She heard from Zaf and Jo that Wes was a good boy, and that they had a good time with him, but she highly doubted that he'd enjoy her company very much.

Zaf and Jo were young and vibrant while she was drifting towards her late thirties and her idea of fun was sitting in her favorite armchair with a good book and a good cup of coffee.

The evening had been awkward to start with, she arrived at the Carter household to find Jo waiting for her at the door, little Wes standing shyly behind her. Jo had left pretty quickly with a quick kiss on the cheek to Wes, and a good luck wink to Ruth, which frightened her rather than comforted her.

"Hello, my name's Ruth." She had said firmly with an outstretched hand to greet the boy.

He smiled and replied " I'm Wesley," before running back into the house, ignoring her hand which hung in the air for a goodfive seconds before dropping to her side. She followed him and stepped into the hallway. There were still pictures of Fiona on the walls, she made herself look straight ahead as if she wore a horse's blinders.

Wes was in the sitting room jumping on the couch, resembling a wild chimp in the jungle, and she put her handbag down on the coffee table. She took off her coat and hung it on the antique coat stand in the corner of the ornately decorated room.

"Did you want anything to eat Wes?" Ruth checked what she had in her purse and found only some Hershey's kisses. She figured that she would at least make sure he didn't starve to death under her care. "I have kisses." Wes shrugged and stopped jumping.

"Mommy doesn't like it when I eat sugar. She says it causes hy-per-acti-vity." She smiled when he struggled with the big word. "Mommy's gone now though. I dunno if she stills means it." The child just sat down on the couch and stared at his feet.

Ruth wanted to take him into her arms and comfort him, but that would probably cause more harm than good, so she handed him a kiss instead. Wesley's eyes lit up at the sight of candy and the thought of his missing mother was pushed to the back of his mind.

He opened the candy and popped it into his mouth, savoring the rich chocolatey taste.

"May I have another one?"

Giving Wes candy had been a horrible mistake. He had gone so hyper that the only way Ruth could keep him under control was to pinch the sensitive spot at the back of his neck, so he would stop moving.

Ruth had been debating whether or not to call for help for the past two hours, and she decided that she definitely could use some help.

As she held Wes in her death grip with her left hand, she picked up her phone and dialed Harry's home number. He was the only person she felt that would be able to reign Wes in, and well– who could blame her for wanting to see him?

The phone rang about three times before he picked up.

"Yes?" He sounded tired, he probably just got home.

"Harry? It's Ruth! Would you mind coming over right now?" The desperation in her voice was alarmingly obvious.

"Ruth? What's wrong, are you alright?" His voice was concerned and slightly panicky.

"I'm with Wes right now and I'm having some problems, would you be so kind as to help me?" She pleaded. Wes had just wriggled out of her grip and ran down the hall, tiny feet pounding on the wooden floor as he ran. Ruth cringed as he screamed rambunctiously as any hyper child would, then she sat on the couch waiting for his reply.

"Of course..." He heard Wes's scream on the other end and imagined Ruth trying desperately to calm him down. It made him smile.

"I'll be there in fifteen minutes. You're at Adam and Fi– ," Harry stopped himself and continued, "You're at Adam's?"

Ruth replied affirmatively and agreed to see him in fifteen minutes.

She followed Wes's path into his father's bedroom where he was pulling out every drawer he could possibly find. The drawer's contents spilled out everywhere, and an unladylike curse flew out of Ruth's mouth when she stepped on something sharp.

Wes's eyes went wide and he screamed delightedly, "OH, YOU SAID A BAD WORD!"

Ruth sighed exasperated, and tried to negotiate, "Wes, it's time for bed, come on–,"

Wes just screamed again and ran away from her outstretched arms. "I'm not tired! I'm not tired! I'm not TIRED!" Wes darted past the door, leaping over the scattered items littering the floor of his father's room.

Ruth could not help but be grateful that the cavalry was on its way.

TBC...

A/N: This is based on my own problems with my little bro. LOL! And I'm thinking of putting "The Letter" on hiatus because I don't have any inspiration for it as of now.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2 of "Mother"

A/N: Ok, here's the 2nd chappy!

Harry arrived promptly fifteen minutes later, like he promised. He got out of the car and rang the bell. He could hear disturbing noises from behind the door. Lots of banging and screaming.

Ruth flung the door open and he could really see the tension in her posture. Exhaustion was written all over her face. She stood stiffly like something was shoved up her arse and her hair was all over the place.

"Is he really being that bad?"

Ruth nodded and stepped backwards to let him in. Harry looked around. Everything was in disarray, even Ruth looked a little worse for wear.

He heard Wes sprinting down the stairs at top speed screaming, "UNCLE HARRY! UNCLE HARRY!"

Harry laughed and Ruth winced. The little boy showed no signs of mellowing down anytime soon. Wes jumped into Harry's waiting arms and Ruth looked on in sheer amazement.

How the hell did people get kids to like them so much anyway?

"Have you been giving Aunt Ruth a hard time now?" Harry asked Wes in a voice that he would use while interrogating apprehended terrorists.

Wes looked Harry straight in the eye and said, "No." Harry laughed once more and shook the child in his arms. "You're just like your dad."

Wes smiled with his father's boyish charm and Ruth was suddenly irritated even more when Wes was behaving for Harry since it took a pinch to his central nervous system from her just to get him to sit still.

"Let's go and watch a movie alright?" Harry suggested diplomatically. Wes agreed frightfully easily and Ruth wanted to really hurt that child for giving her hell and making her look bad in front of Harry.

She followed them into the living room where she found the two sitting next to each other on the leather couch, staring at the big screen plasma TV.

* * *

Wes had only watched half the cartoon movie when he fell asleep in Harry's lap. Ruth, being worn out from watching him, had nodded off even sooner, and her head had fallen to rest on his shoulder.

Harry decided he liked having her head there, and he wrapped an arm around her shoulders. They didn't move for a while, Harry liked this odd..domestic sort of feeling. They were like father, mother and child, on a typical night at home.

Except they weren't. Wes's father had been injured by a gunshot wound and would be back tomorrow. Ruth and he weren't married, and as much as he'd love to fix that situation, it was simply too complicated.

Harry just enjoyed the feeling of Ruth lying in his embrace, and drifted off to sleep on the couch.

* * *

When he woke up, Wes was gone from his lap and Ruth was nowhere to be found. The TV was off and the room was eerily silent.

He stood and stretched, his back cracking painfully as a result of falling asleep in an awkward position.

_Good god I'm getting old._ He thought as he massaged a kink in his neck.

"I took Wes upstairs. He's finally out cold." Ruth appeared in the doorway, looking refreshed and lovely.

"I just had a quick shower, I thought I'd feel better. It seems that you've been asleep the whole time." She moved to stand next to him so that he could smell the shampoo she used. It smelled damn good.

Harry chastised himself and tried to focus on what she was saying, not what she smelled like, and failed quite miserably.

"I trust that you'll be ok from here?" Harry asked, implying that he was going to leave.

"You're not going to try and leave are you?" He took note in her use of the word 'try.'

"You want me to stay?" He tried immensely to hide the hope in his voice.

Ruth instantly pinked and stammered, "Well, it's snowing like mad out there, and I just thought that—,"

"Yes, I'll stay then." He cut her off quickly and she fell silent. Ruth and Harry stood in suspenseful silence for about five minutes until she rolled her eyes in annoyance and said, "Oh what the hell!"

Harry's eyes flew wide open when Ruth pulled him into a big kiss. She placed her hand at the back of his head to bring him down to meet her lips. He grabbed her around the waist and lifted her off the ground, and the last coherent thought of the night was, "Finally!"

Little did they know that they were being watched by little Wes, hiding in a shadow near the door.

'_Mission accomplished.' _The eight year old thought mischievously.

TBC...

A/N: there's the epilogue after this!


	3. Chapter 3

Epilogue of "Mother."

A/N: In response to White Rose Withering's question. )

Adam had been welcomed back to work with arms wide open. Everything was the same, except that he had to wear a wrap around his middle, and he was under the doctor's orders to take two painkillers every six hours.

Something was different though. In the meeting room during the briefing, Ruth chose to sit next to Harry, which he found peculiar because normally she sat next to Zaf. Harry kept on looking at her throughout the briefing and Adam doubted that Harry was absorbing a word anybody said.

Maybe they had finally decided to give it a go. Adam got some weird looks from Jo when a wide grin broke onto his face. He was beaming proudly because he knew that his little schemewith Wes was what pushed those two together.

END

A/N: Short but necessary in my opinion. R & R!


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